Passaic County Community college polishes its crown jewel

PATERSON — It might seem out of place that a significant art collection has been nurtured at a community college in a struggling inner city.

But right in the center of Paterson, an eclectic and valuable collection has evolved in a building that is, in itself, an artistic treasure.

The artwork is housed at the Hamilton Club, a “neo-Italian Renaissance” building at the corner of Church and Ellison streets.

Passaic County Community College purchased the club in the 1990s for about $240,000, said President Steve Rose, and in the bargain got its 19th- and early 20th-century art collection. At the time, the 26 paintings were valued at $2 million, he said. A covenant in the deed stipulated that the college would hold the art in trust in perpetuity, said Rose.

The three-story club, which dates to the turn of the last century, was a hangout for the city’s elite until it went bankrupt in the 1980s. It’s an impressive building with a marble entryway, sweeping staircase, solid oak wainscoting and hand-carved fireplace mantels.

“This is all very grand, and it was meant to be,” said Jane Haw, gallery curator. “We have three major art forms here — including the building itself.”

PCCC got about $2 million in grants to renovate the building and proceeded to add to its permanent collection when the Nicholas Martini Foundation gave the college the works of the late Paterson sculptor Gaetano Federici, whose art graces many of the city’s buildings and parks.

A room upstairs at the club provides a small re-creation of Federici’s studio — “It’s important for the younger people to come in and see this,” said Yaw. School and other community groups regularly visit the club for tours, she said.

The curator has lovingly researched and cataloged the original Hamilton Club collection, a varied group of paintings acquired by the moneyed members of the club that includes several works from Europe.

Additionally, the college has been collecting contemporary art for the permanent collection and acts as host to traveling exhibits at the club. The college’s nationally renowned Poetry Center also is housed in the club, as is the county’s cultural affairs commission.

“Every college gets into a couple of things slightly outside its traditional mission, and this kind of evolved in the direction of the arts,” said Rose. The various endeavors at the club are mostly supported by grants, he said,

“Very little college funds are spent on these things,” said Rose. “It’s a wonderful thing that we’re able to do this. We’ll always find a way to keep it going — it’s important.”